In The News Criptea-airgeadra? Gruaimscrolláil? How new Irish words are born
Mar 17, 2026
Alan Titley, writer and columnist with a keen eye for regional Irish and cultural history, and Cormac Breathnach, terminology specialist from Focloir.ie, explain how new Irish words are coined and recorded. They talk about community coinage, monthly committee decisions, transliteration versus loanwords, regional creativity, and the challenge of choosing fleeting trends to enter dictionaries.
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Flat White Adopted As Boinnean By Speakers
- Flat white became boinnean because cafes and speakers coined it organically rather than following recommended phrase café le bain.
- Cormac Breathnach records community-created terms like boinnean and feighínín (selfie) when grassroots usage wins out.
Dictionaries Now Record Usage Not Prescribe It
- Modern dictionaries aim to record usage rather than prescribe correct forms, reflecting democratic language change.
- Cormac compares this to English dictionaries including words that would have shocked speakers decades earlier, showing language vitality.
Connemara Coinages Gave Escalator And JCB Names
- Alan Titley recounts Connemara speakers inventing stair-related words like stéirbheo for escalator and calling a JCB 'the big tooth'.
- Those grassroots coinages show local creativity continues to supply Irish with vivid terms.